December (so far) in pictures....

I absolutely love her "excited" face. How can you not?!

My parents recently brought me one of my old dolls "Amy." And 10+ other boxes of old Barbies, dance costumes, etc that are waiting for me in our garage. (Dad's on a roll and cleaning out the attic!) Gwendolyn thought she was awesome despite everyone else thinking she's scary.

Could it be the hair?

Or the eyes that don't close?

Either way, I used to LOVE her and carry her around and pretend I was her mommy.

Now I have a REAL baby girl that I get to carry around on my hip.

I like the real baby much better *smile.

Meeting Santa. Took all of 5 minutes from start to finish - if that. I have heard "horror" stories of long lines and extravagant fees. No thanks!

Jamie and Diedra came to visit us from BOLIVIA! Well, kind of. They came to see their families after being gone for almost a year and they were mostly interested in meeting Gwendolyn for the first time. It's fine. I know she's cuter. (Please ignore the carrot stains on her face.)

Love these girls! Diedra taught us so much about child birth and she WILL be the doula at our next one! Due to their move "down south", she wasn't able to be there for Gwen's, but she taught us as much as she could before they left.

Cousin Grant's Christmas program - he sang his 30 second solo perfectly! Adorable. Cutest 6-year old Joseph I know.

So nice to have Tom's brother's family only 35 minutes away now so we can enjoy all of these fun family memories we otherwise would miss out on!

Catching up on Survivor episodes...

Miss Kathy offers her daycare parents a night out so Gwen went over to her house from 5-8 pm last week. Kathy is such a blessing to us - I mean, how sweet is that?!

Tom and I got to enjoy a nice dinner at The Lob (Red Lobster) and he surprised me with a pretty blue box..."to thank me for all I do for our family" and just because he loves me. And Merry Christmas, even though we don't technically exchange Christmas presents. 

New pearl earrings! I'll treasure them forever.

She's officially found the railings of her crib...

Gwendolyn's dedication at church was very special. We had an entire row and a half of family there showing love and support, which meant so much to us. Tom and I have been extremely blessed by our church family and have been amazed at how God is working. We meet in a local daycare/school and God has been so gracious to us to meet so many of our needs. He is good and we are blessed to be able to worship Him. Gwendolyn is a gift from above, and I am truly honored to be her mama.

I realize there are still days left in December, but I know we'll be busy busy bees the next week with getting ready, packing and hitting the road to spend time with our families so I wanted to get these posted. We are looking forward to celebrating Gwendolyn's first Christmas and the birth of Jesus, who is the most important and treasured gift of all!